A florist who refused to provide flowers to a gay couple for their wedding violated state consumer-protection and anti-discrimination law, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom rejected arguments from the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland that her actions were protected by her freedoms of speech and religion. While religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment, actions based on those beliefs aren’t necessarily protected, he said.

“For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,” Ekstrom wrote. “The Courts have confirmed the power of the Legislative Branch to prohibit conduct it deems discriminatory, even where the motivation for that conduct is grounded in religious belief.”
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"The law is clear: If you choose to provide a service to couples of the opposite sex, you must provide the same service to same-sex couples,” Ferguson said....

There are videos and many witnesses. He should not have been throwing rocks, but the cops shot him when he turned as he was running away. Not a threat when they shot him. Witnesses say at least 13 shots.

The widow and daughters of the rock-throwing man shot and killed Tuesday by Pasco police filed a $25 million wrongful-death claim against the city Friday as police and prosecutors promised a thorough and objective investigation into the killing.

The claim alleges that 35-year-old orchard worker Antonio Zambrano-Montes “posed no danger” to the three officers who followed him across a busy downtown intersection during rush-hour and shot him to death on a sidewalk as he moved away. Prosecutors and police on Friday confirmed Zambrano-Montes was not carrying a firearm or a knife when he was killed.

The officers had responded to a 911 report of a man throwing rocks at cars and Zambrano-Montes struggled with one officer before two others arrived. Police say two officers were struck by rocks and said the man’s behavior was erratic and threatening.

His was the fourth fatal police shooting in this community of 68,000 since last summer and has sparked national outrage and local protests, due in large part to graphic cellphone video posted by one witness on YouTube that has been viewed more than 925,000 times....

"Fleeing from police and not following an officer’s command should not be sufficient for a person to get shot."

Pasco, WA

What gets me is not that they needed to stop him, but they shot him when he was stopped, facing them, hands up, no threat. He ran, stopped, faced them with hands up, and they shot him. Why the hell couldn't they have, I don't know, grabbed him?

More than a dozen people apparently witnessed Tuesday’s rush-hour confrontation between 35-year-old Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who had gotten out of jail on Monday, and three officers. The officers had tried to arrest him after witnesses reported he was throwing rocks at cars outside the Fiesta Foods supermarket in downtown Pasco.

At least one witness posted a graphic cellphone video on YouTube showing Zambrano-Montes being pursued across a street by the officers and then collapsing to the sidewalk under a hail of police gunfire. Witnesses said Zambrano-Montes was carrying a rock and was walking away when the officers fired as many as 13 rounds.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington called the shooting “very disturbing,” and at least one eyewitness questioned the use of deadly force on a crowded street.

“I could not believe they were shooting guns. There were cars and people everywhere,” said Pasco resident Benjamin Patrick....

(clip)Zambrano-Montes was throwing rocks at cars about 5 p.m. Tuesday near Fiesta Foods when police were called. He hit two officers with rocks and refused to listen to commands, Police Chief Bob Metzger said.

Police gave him orders to surrender and unsuccessfully tried using a Taser. The officers chased him across the intersection of 10th Avenue and Lewis Street and eventually shot him in front of a business on Lewis Street.

The shooting was captured on video by bystanders and caused outrage and protests in the city Wednesday. Several graphic videos have been posted to YouTube and viewed thousands of times.

The Zambrano family told the Herald police were out of line when they shot him and should have used less-lethal force to get him under control....

Beware, video shows him getting shot, across the street from the filming person.

I just checked the schools my child attended and am amazed at the high exemption rate. Public schools seem to hover lower than private ones and alternative programs but 20-30% for grade schools is appalling.

In the old days, we let our dogs run around outside in the dirt and threw real sticks rather than sterilized Kongs like people do nowdays. Our dogs developed immunities gradually as they were exposed, not all in one like they do now with vaccinations. My dogs all survived.

I would rather buy her healthy food and stimulate her immune system to act properly if he ever comes across a disease than inject her with those chemicals which "they" say are safe, but we all know "they" lie and want only to make money.

Now they want me to bring my young puppy in to inject multiple diseases into him at the same time every couple months. I am worried about overwhelming her sensitive immune system and don't really see the need for these vaccines anyway. I don't take him around sick dogs and if the vaccines were any good, they'd last forever.

I don't know of any dog who has had rabies, it isn't where I live so why should I risk my sweet fluffy puppy and expose her to all those nasty chemicals?

How Mark Zuckerberg Shut Down A Troll Who Called Facebook's 'Donate' Button For Ebola A Marketing Stunt

Earlier today, Facebook announced the launch of a "Donate Now" button on people's News Feed to let them give money to one of three charities: International Medical Corps, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or Save the Children.

Facebook will also be providing internet and voice-calling access to aid workers in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. In the comments section of Mark Zuckerberg's post about the initiative, though, a Facebook user accused the company of simply launching the button as a marketing stunt:

Zuckerberg had a great response:

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, committed $25 million to fight Ebola on Oct. 14.

Priscilla and I are donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola.
The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point. It has infected 8,400 people so far, but it is spreading very quickly and projections suggest it could infect 1 million people or more over the next several months if not addressed.
We need to get Ebola under control in the near term so that it doesn't spread further and become a long term global health crisis that we end up fighting for decades at large scale, like HIV or polio.
We believe our grant is the quickest way to empower the CDC and the experts in this field to prevent this outcome.
Grants like this directly help the frontline responders in their heroic work. These people are on the ground setting up care centers, training local staff, identifying Ebola cases and much more.
We are hopeful this will help save lives and get this outbreak under control.
To learn more about the fight against Ebola: http://www.cdcfoundation.org/ebola-outbreak